Janet Marie White Rogers

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Janet Marie White Rogers, age 93, passed away peacefully November 28, 2025 at Birmingham, Alabama.

Funeral services will be conducted December 11, 2025 at 2:00 PM, at Columbia First United Methodist Church, the Rev. Dr. Angela Harris officiating. Interment will follow in Polk Memorial Gardens. The family will visit with friends at the church for 2 hours prior to the service. Oakes and Nichols Funeral Home is assisting the family. Condolences may be made at www.oakesandnichols.com.

In lieu of flowers, please direct memorials to Columbia First United Methodist Church, 222 West Seventh Street, Columbia, TN 38401, designated for either the Building Fund or the Choir Fund.

Janet was born September 29, 1932 in Iowa City, IA, the eldest daughter of Charles Gordon White and Margaret Zunkel White. She spent her early years at several locations in the upper mid-west as the family adjusted to the Great Depression and World War II. Janet’s father led Civilian Conservation Corp (CCC) camps in Minnesota, and later became an Army Air Corps officer based at Selfridge Field near Mount Clemens, MI. A favorite place to recoup between moves was at her grandparents’ farm near Pilot Mound, IA, where Janet began elementary school. During World War II, her father deployed to the South Pacific supporting the build-up of American air power culminating in long-range strategic bombing missions against Japan. With her father absent for the war, the family moved to Boone, IA awaiting his return. During this time, Janet’s mother worked as a nurse at Boone County Hospital.

After the war, the family moved to Waterloo, IA, where Janet graduated high school in 1950. She matriculated at the University of Iowa, earning her Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree in 1954. On August 15, 1954, she married Ronald Dean Rogers at the campus chapel in Iowa City. Janet and Ron had met during her freshman year through the university’s Wesley House.

After marriage, Janet worked as a nurse at major hospitals in Iowa City, Davenport and Des Moines as the young couple moved early in their respective careers. It was in Des Moines that Janet and Ron decided to start their family. The couple welcomed three children (Brad, Marc and Linda) in a span of 3 years and 4 months. Janet suspended her nursing career to care for her young family and manage moves to the Chicago suburbs and then to Arkansas with Ron’s career.

In 1971, the family made their final move to Columbia, TN. With her children in junior high and high school, Janet decided to re-start her nursing career. She became an instructor at Columbia State Community College and earned a Master’s of Science in Nursing from Vanderbilt University. Janet taught Nursing at Columbia State for 25 years until her retirement in December 1996. While working, she was a member of the American Nurses Association (ANA), the National League for Nursing (NLN) and Sigma Tau International Honor Society of Nursing. Janet stated that she enjoyed teaching nursing because it involved two things she dearly loved – caring for patients and the bright eager faces of her students.

Janet sang in the church choir and exercised her love of learning by participating in many Bible studies offered at Columbia First United Methodist Church. She was an active member of the Bruce Strother Sunday School class for many years. Janet also took part in various community activities including Maury County Arts Guild and the Students’ Club supporting the Maury County Library.

Janet was preceded in death by her husband of 63 years, Ronald Dean Rogers, and by her son, Bradford Dean Rogers (Patricia). She is survived by her sister, Ann Sturdevant; two children, Marc Robert Rogers (Amanda) and Linda Marie Rogers Hawkins (James); eight grandchildren, Tabitha Holder Fong (Azuk), Rebekah Holder Reach (Brett), Christina Holder Harlow (Nathan), Timothy Rogers Holder (Sarah “Sage”), Brianna Dawn Rogers (Chase Rumble), Lauren Rogers Miller (Blair), Kathleen Rogers Rice (Michael), and Margaret Claire Rogers Claire (Grant); and nine great-grandchildren.

Pallbearers will be Grant Claire, Azuk Fong, James Hawkins, Timothy Holder, Brett Reach, Chase Rumble